Category: Opinion
BBK Partnership, Jaffna’s accountants to the World
I first heard of the BBK Partnership Sri Lanka in 2015. I first spoke with its co-founder Anandan Arnold in 2018, and finally met him in March 2020 at a hospital in Manipay Jaffna. He was dressed rather informally for a Partner of London’s BBK Partnership of Chartered Accountants. Anandan (pictured below on the right) […]
Uki offers an alternate route from the Northern Province into the tech industry
By Jekhan Aruliah Does Sri Lanka need more university graduates? Sri Lanka has tens of thousands of unemployed graduates. Every now and then the government brings thousands more of them into the Public Service, further bloating an already bloated service. In December 2019 a government minister promised jobs for all 64,000 (his figures) unemployed graduates! […]
Opinion: Girls in STEM, How is Sri Lanka faring?
Ashani Abayasekara Written for International Day of Women and Girls in Science on 11 February 2020 Sri Lanka is well recognised as a leader in gender-equal education in the developing world; World Bank statistics show that primary and secondary school enrollments and completion rates are similar for girls and boys, while girls have higher enrollment […]
Opinion: Measuring poverty within Sri Lanka’s new reality as upper-middle-income country
Wimal Nanayakkara Sri Lanka achieved ‘Upper Middle Income Country’ (UMIC) status in July 2019, as the country’s Gross National Income (GNI) increased from USD 3,840 per capita in 2018 to USD 4,060 per capita in 2019. World Bank’s (WB) new threshold for UMICs is USD 3,996 – USD 12,375 GNI per capita. Sri Lanka scraped […]
Opinion: Post-independence reflections, the gaps in our freedoms
By Erandi de Silva Seventy two years ago, Sri Lanka gained independence from the shackles of British rule. This meant the autonomy to govern our people, the freedom to create and maintain our institutions and the ability to carve our own political narrative. Beyond political liberty, independence also restored our control over land, resources, and […]
Sri Lankan Airlines corruption scandal reveals need for deeper structural reform in SoEs : Advocata
Weak governance has led to large scale corruption in state enterprises. Sri Lankan airlines has made Rs. 169 billion in losses since nationalisation in 2009. It has recently been revealed that Airbus SE paid the wife of a Sri Lankan Airlines Executive US$ 2 million, out of a US$ 16 million bribe over a large […]
Opinion: Hayleys Fentons MD bullish on construction, renewables despite challenges
As an industry which relies on large scale investments to fund long-term projects, the construction sector is by nature, a business that relies on confidence, precision, and quality. One of the sector’s leading the charge on these fronts is Hayleys Fentons. Since its establishment in 1921 and acquisition, followed by the recent rebranding under the […]
Opinion: Act carefully or drown: 3 lessons from New Orleans for Sri Lanka
By Asmita Tiwari, Suranga Kahandawa, Masatsugu Takamatsu & Keiko Sakoda Our hearts sank as we looked at the Hurricane Katrina-affected house, now the Flooded House Museum in the City of New Orleans, United States. Our team from the World Bank was accompanying Sri Lankan officers visiting New Orleans in October 2019, to learn from the […]
Tourism, the Northern Province Game Changer
By Jekhan Aruliah Tourism is the single most game-changing opportunity for the North. Game changing because for those visitors with eyes to see and ears to hear it opens a wide window to all the other non-tourism opportunities in this province. As they enjoy the hospitality, the food, the sites and the scenery a few […]
Opinion: Time for Ranil Wickremesinghe to crack the whip
November 20, 2019 (LBO) – Gotabaya Rajapaksa is the President of Sri Lanka. The former Defence Secretary won the just concluded Presidential election with a massive majority of over 1.3mn votes. His leading contender, former UNP Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa, was not even able to garner 42% of the total vote, while Rajapaksa secured over […]
Opinion: We all love freedom, even when we say we hate it
November 15, 2019 (LBO) – By: Adititva Presidential Election 2019 for Sri Lankan’s is turning out to be debate between Democracy Vs Dictatorship and everyone who intends to vote has a strong opinion which system they prefer. They will go vote on the 16th for the candidate who will deliver the governance system of their choice. […]
Opinion: Appointment of a new PM – Will the curse of Sirisena hit Gota/Sajith?
November 7, 2019 (LBO) – In less than 10 days time, Sri Lanka will have a new President. It is not an understatement that a vast majority of Sri Lankans can not wait for that day. Each major faction is excited about the prospects for their particular candidate. However, all major factions are for the […]